Art Dealer Show

How about this for a show tease? An Andy Warhol painting changes the lives of a civil servant’s family forever, Dali’s pet ocelot gets out of control, and the chance encounter of a 19 year old and a famous eccentric millionaire made gallery history in Las Vegas. Now if that does not have you hooked for an hour of listening than this podcast will never be for you. But if it has, I’m thrilled to welcome you back for part two of our conversation with Richard (Dick to his friends) Perry. In our first episode, we learned how the government seizing every penny a young Perry had led him to taking a key role in what would eventually become a gallery dynasty — and the great stories that came from those early days at Merrill Chase Galleries. (listen to episode one) This episode picks up in the second chapter of Richard’s career as we follow him to Las Vegas where he opens Centaur Galleries, the first major art gallery on the strip. But before we jump into all of that, I’d like to buy you a drink and bend your ear a bit over at the Ol’ Art Dealer Lounge. This week I’ve been thinking about how two hundred years of our frontal lobe evolution, and the answer to why you should never order a cocktail at a bar with plastic pourer tops, may be the reason that some people didn’t buy that big painting from you. If nothing else, it’s worth seeing how I dig myself out of that cryptic set up…Cheers

Danny Stern

Show Host and Producer

Sponsors:

Art World News

Relavent Communications

Art Santa Fe – a Redwood Media Group show

Guest:

Richard Perry – Owner of Centaur Gallery, Las Vegas NV:

4345 Dean Martin Dr #200, Las Vegas, NV

(702) 737-1234

Centaur Gallery

Us:

www.artdealer.show

@artdealershow

facebook.com/artdealershow

From day one, it was a goal of the show to talk as many different types of art sellers as we could get on the mic—from art consultants working the floor of a mall gallery to the jet set industry movers who make headlines. Which certainly includes the art brokers who find their own place in odd shaped spaces in-between and my guest, Dewey Graff, is about as perfect a representative of this territory of art dealing as I can think of.

Dewey Graff is one of those people who has found a couple square feet to stand on that was never declared before and staked a flag in it. And once he chooses to step off of it, there will be a permanent Dewey-sized footprint—one that will never be filled by anyone who comes along afterwards.

Back in the 1990’s, Graff identified a piece of virtual retail real-estate which millionaires walk by every day: The Robb Report. For over two decades, his ad has run every month without fail in this high-rent print neighborhood and through this ad Graff has met the people who live the high-flying lifestyle described in its pages.

However, meeting people of this caliber is a far cry from selling to them. Over many years, Graff has refined his already bigger-than-life selling personality to leap over some major obstacles: not having a gallery and the credibility that comes with that, along with typically never being anything more than a voice on the phone may have be impossible to overcome for some. But Graff somehow found a way to make these work in his favor and to understand how, you’ll just have to listen to this episode.

As always, I’ll take a moment of my own to offer my cocktail-fueled stories on the art world: this week a call from a fellow art dealer who is lamenting how her biggest client running short on wall space may spell the end of a great thing. Which reminds me of one of the earliest and biggest lessons I learned in the art biz—making sure that the collectors know that they are the COLLECTOR. And all that entails.

Cheers.

Danny Stern

Show Host and Producer

Sponsors:

Art World News

Relavent Communications 

Art Expo New York

Guest:

Dewey Graff – Owner of Dewey Graff Fine Art Inc.

(952) 935-2289<

deweygfa.com

Us:

www.artdealer.show

@artdealershow

facebook.com/artdealershow

As promised, we’ve returned with part two of our conversation with Heidi Leigh, owner of AFA Gallery in SOHO New York and Belcastel France. And if you liked part one, I can promise that you’ll love part two.

When I asked Heidi “what is the toughest thing about running a gallery today?”, she replied “same as it was yesterday—finding good help.”

There is so much packed into that very honest answer. And the truth is, you may have the most desirable pieces of art by the hottest artists, the grandest gallery showplace on the perfect corner but if you don’t have the people who can do the job of selling art—well then, you’ve got nothing. Heidi and I may not have come up with the answers on how to get those people, let alone keep them, but we do hit on a few worthwhile bits of wisdom that may get us all a little closer.

But this rich dialogue between dealers doesn’t end there: Heidi will argue on whether blind faith is needed to survive; and if there is anything to “manifesting” success (guess which side this curmudgeon is on.) We’ll even talk about her art gallery in France that sits inside her castle, surrounded by a real moat with a drawbridge. And why even with that – THE FRENCH STILL WON’T BUY ART FROM US.

Cheers.

Danny Stern

Show Host and Producer

Sponsors:

Art World News

Relavent Communications 

Art Expo New York

Guest:

Heidi Leigh – Owner of AFA Gallery NYC/France:

54 Greene Street New York, NY 10013

212.226.7374

AFA Galleries

facebook.com/AFANYC

@AFANYC

Us:

www.artdealer.show

@artdealershow

facebook.com/artdealershow

How about this for an interview starter? When this episode’s guest Richard Perry, the owner of Centaur Gallery in Las Vegas, first entered into the art business the company he built his career at had just been shut down by the IRS, the president had fled to Mexico with the accountant, and the Fed seized everything but the clothes on Richard’s back. With no more than a couple bucks in his pocket, Richard answered a want ad for an art gallery job. That job would quickly develop into a pivotal role helping to build a gallery dynasty that shaped much of the business.

But before we go deep into Richard’s story, we’ll drop on over to the ol’ Art Dealer Bar, for bit of gin-fueled gospel from the booth in the back.

This week I had a bit of a realization about how the art selling business entered into the center of the zeitgeist of the 20th century, how it lost contact with that stardust, how it all but died, and how that gave me a lot of hope for the future.

Now that I have that to live up to, let me suggest you throw off your coat, loosen that tie, strap in, and take a long deep sip of what of what I’m drinking.

Cheers.

Danny Stern

Show Host and Producer

Sponsors:

Art World News

Relavent Communications

Art Santa Fe – a Redwood Media Group show

Guest:

Richard Perry – Owner of Centaur Gallery, Las Vegas NV:

4345 Dean Martin Dr #200, Las Vegas, NV

(702) 737-1234

Centaur Gallery

Us:

www.artdealer.show

@artdealershow

facebook.com/artdealershow

As you know by Now, I love a good art dealer story. And our guest Heidi Leigh, the owner of AFA Gallery (Soho New York / Paris) has brought us some great ones. We are going follow the unlikely journey that a professional dancer in San Francisco took to become a SOHO gallerist. We’ll hear how a stranger with a briefcase filled with art put her in the center of one of the biggest crazes that the art business has seen. And we’ll learn how she survived, and even prospered, after the craze came to its crashing end.

But before we jump into Heidi’s stories, we’ll make a stop at the ol’ art dealer bar so I can share a recent realization. That during a decade of working alongside The Rolling Stones on the road, I was being taught by example a simple but profound lesson that can make us all better at selling art. Really, no kidding.

Cheers.

Danny Stern

Show Host and Producer

Sponsors:

Art World News

Relavent Communications 

Art Expo New York

Guest:

Heidi Leigh – Owner of AFA Gallery NYC/France:

54 Greene Street New York, NY 10013

212.226.7374

AFA Galleries

facebook.com/AFANYC

@AFANYC

Us:

www.artdealer.show

@artdealershow

facebook.com/artdealershow

The wait is over, and we are back with part II of my conversation with Bob Chase, president of Chase Art. And If you enjoyed part one as much as I did, I can assure you that this second chapter is as interesting as it is different from the first.

(if you didn’t hear part I, this is your chance)

Previously Bob and I talked about the early days in the street level gallery business when his father and grandfather first started Merrill Chase Galleries. In this episode, we move on to Bob’s own personal experiences in the gallery world. Including the inspiring story about his company’s early struggles getting the Dr. Sues art program started in its first years. And how he was able to bring it to become one of the most represented and collected published art programs in the market.

We also spent some time digging down to the roots of what makes for a great, or even just good, art dealer. And as often is the case, the answer is the ABCs of good selling – Always Be Challenging yourself. I know it’s hokey, but it’s also true.

Picking up where we left off with Bob is not the only unfinished business in this episode. We also pick up from where I left you hanging after our conversation at the ol’ art dealer bar.

In part I shared a story about an old gallery owner friend of mine, who late one night after binge listening to several of our podcasts, called me up to hit me with a question many gallery owners would like to ask someone “What should I do next?” And after doing my best to skirt around the question, I confessed that I don’t possess those visionary powers. Despite having the chutzpah to pontificate into the mic show after show. But I did declare I knew one thing for sure. That an answer is coming and there will be a new day for the gallery business. And then with that tease I promised I’d tell you how I know that for sure right after the ad-break.

And when we came back from that ad… (nothin’) Well I guess I owe you and everyone else an apology. I meant to. Really I did. What I really meant was when we return with this episode.

But now the time has come. And in this episode I finally do deliver on my promise to make my case.

(Yes, I just used a tease again…Shamelessly.)

Cheers.

Sponsors:

Art World News

Relavent Communications 

Art Expo New York

Guest:

Bob Chase, President of:

Chase Art

Us:

www.artdealer.show

@artdealershow

facebook.com/artdealershow

Nim Vaswani

An Art Dealer By Any Other Name

If the art world has its equivalent to an old-time tent revival it would the “Road Show Company.” Since 1997, Nim Vaswani and his devoted crew of art dealers have criss-crossed the United States and beyond, putting on art shows with A-list artists inside galleries in B–level markets. Dali to Tampa, Max to Omaha, Taupin to Scottsdale.

The path that led Nim into the gallery business, to opening a successful gallery of his own in Florida and choosing this gypsy life, was arguably serendipitous. But it was not without direction. As we learn in this week’s episode, Nim is driven by some very specific beliefs about his place in the art business. And along the way as his travels have taken him to scores of galleries, he’s made some very interesting observations about the gallery world that are well worth considering.

If you are a regular listener of the Art Dealer Show, this may be the first time you’ve heard Nim’s name come up. But it’s not, the first time I’ve introduced you to him.

Back in episode 007, I shared with listeners an experience that I had while meeting an art dealer friend for dinner at the airport in San Francisco. During that dinner my unnamed friend asserted that he felt that there was little to no distinction between being an art dealer and any other sales person of high-end goods (Rolexes, cars, boats). I’ll save you the blow-by-blow of my inner dialogue that I narrated. But in simply put comma my visceral response was a bit of an existential tail spin. By the end of sharing the story I had brought things to a bit a boil. I think that at one point I exclaimed that art dealers are “fucking magicians.” Or something to that effect.

The story was true. As well as my inner turmoil? and feeling about what it is to be an art dealer. But nonetheless, it was unfair. I used Nim as a bit of foil to express a point. And in the telling of the story I really did not give him a fair chance to have his views fully understood—certainly not in context.

And even though this episode longer then the usual, I think you’ll find it riveting all the way through…and just remember you can always pause it and come back later.”

Cheers.

Danny Stern

Sponsors:

Art World News

Relavent Communications 

Redwood Media Group 

Art Expo 2017

Guest:

Nim Viswani, owner of:

Road show Company

Facebook

@RoadShowArtists

Us:

www.artdealer.show

@artdealershow

facebook.com/artdealershow

Are you ready for the first Art Dealer Show of the New Year?

We are back with part II of my conversation with Thad Markham, the owner of Artifacts Gallery in Cambria, California and the designer/publisher of Out Of The Bowl.

Last time Thad and I talked a lot about the path he took to come into the art gallery business. It’s a great story and if you missed part I you should really check it out.

In this second half of our conversation, we dive much deeper into Thad’s driving philosophies on running a gallery business that guided him through the tough years. And how he’s refined his thinking over time to help him go far beyond just surviving.

Before we jump head deep into that great talk, we once again gather at our table in the dark end of the old art dealer bar, where I pose the question “what does gang initiation killings and Zappos’ unique employee indoctrination methods have to do with a basic but unspoken truth about selling art?” I’ll give you a hint, it’s how I’m getting through the next four years. But you’ll just have to listen to the show to get the full answer.

 

Sponsors:

Art World News

Relavent Communications 

Redwood Media Group 

Art Expo 2017

Guest:

Thad Markham, owner of:

Artifacts Gallery in Cambria CA

Publisher of:

Out Of the Bowl

Facebook

Us:

www.artdealer.show

@artdealershow

facebook.com/artdealershow

Many are calling 2016 a year of loss. If it was not a presidential candidate for you, it was at least Prince, Bowie and of course Leonard Cohen. As much as I’m personally saddened by our loss of them and many others, I am grateful for at least one thing–I got to launch The Art Dealer Show. And I want to thank you and everyone else who helped breathe life into it.

Our podcast is not even a full year old and already a community of art-selling professionals has clearly begun to take shape. Not only in numbers but outright support.

From the beginning, my biggest hope for the show was that it would become the proverbial water cooler where we could all gather around. A place where we could be reminded that, even though we are scattered around the world in our respective galleries, offices and studios, we are still connected by the work we do, the things that drive us and the similar challenges we face. And by meeting each other and getting to share our stories, ideas and even questions, we’d gain a better understanding of who we collectively are.

Our guest for this week’s episode Bridgette Mayer is a perfect example of this. Bridgette has just release her first book of what I know will be many Art Cure: A Memoir of Abuse and Fortune. It’s a candid autobiography that explains how young girl who came through social services and foster care ended up in the art world with a multi-million dollar gallery and consulting business. This is an inspirational tale about how a life that started with gross neglect and violent abuse ultimately ended in personal redemption as one of Philadelphia’s most celebrated gallery owners.

As always I’ll hold court for a bit from my usual corner booth, in the back of the ol’ art dealer bar. Having just come back from a little tour of some of the galleries that show my art in Hawaii, I’m still a bit high on a mixture of Mai Tais and getting to meet some great art dealers. And while the buzz is still fresh, I’m going to share some thoughts about what I that our real job is as art sellers. Just a little tip, it rhymes with shoe-missness… I think I might need to slow down a bit on those drinks…

Cheers.

Danny Stern

Sponsors:

Art World News

Relavent Communications 

Redwood Media Group 

Art Expo 2017

Guest:

Bridgette Mayer, owner of:

Bridgette Mayer Gallery

Facebook

@BMayerGallery

Us:

www.artdealer.show

@artdealershow

facebook.com/artdealershow

I’ve alway been fond of the cautionary words from an unknown sage – “choose your profession before it chooses you.” These sobering words used to guid me as much as keep me up all night staring at the ceiling.

This week those words of wisdom have once again found their way back in to my head, as my business travels have returned me to the Hawaiian Islands to visit with some of my gallery accounts. While here I’ve been training many young art dealers on one of my artists during the day and by night I’ve been editing this new episode of the Art Dealer Show. And the juxtaposition of these fresh new art dealers with as little as a month or two of experience on the gallery floor in contrast to this episode’s guest Tony Pernicone, who has nearly forty years under his belt, could not be more striking.

Tony’s career in the art business is – like most of the greats I know – more of an odyssey than a CV. And while relistening describe his career that started in the entertainment world as an actor, folk musician and sit-com writer that led to a storied gallery career, I could not help by think this is someone who disproves the axiom that has haunted me for all these years.

Because often a career “finds you” but sometimes it’s a calling. And those are not the same things. For Tony I think it was the latter.

Tony Pernicone has been an art dealer since 1980, an appraiser since 1991 and an auctioneer since 1995.

He is an Accredited Senior Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers; a Member of the National Auctioneers Association and the California State Auctioneers Association. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Northern California Division of the American Society of Appraisers as the Discipline Director of the Personal Property Division.

He successfully participated in the Society’s mandatory Reaccreditation program and has complied with its continuing education requirements, as set forth in the organization Constitution, Bylaws and Administrative rules. Formal reaccreditation was granted by the International Board of Governors and is valid through January 9, 2014. He is currently acquiring the educational credits to reaccredit again at that time.

In 2004, as one of only two appraisers in the nation, he was asked to assist eBay.com in their efforts to weed out any fraudulent art. His responsibilities were to offer his opinion as to the authenticity of questionable works of art appearing for sale on eBay’s Internet auction site, and to help establish permanent guidelines and standards for any seller to list their art for auction. Considered one of the leading fine art appraisers in the country, he is also qualified, and has served as an expert witness in all fine art-related fields; He’s a published lecturer whose most recent articles were for the 2011 and 2012 Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies, respectively titled, ” Beyond Auction Sales: Selecting Fine Art FMV Comparables”; and “Caveat Emptor! Fakes and Frauds at EBay and other Online Auction Sites.” He lectured on the same subject at the 75th International Appraisers Conference in Washington D.C. in August of 2011. Currently, he is working on an article regarding the value of “Art as an Investment”.

 

Sponsors:

Art World News

Relavent Communications 

Redwood Media Group 

Guest:

Tony Pernicone, owner of:

Avanti Fine Arts

Us:

www.artdealer.show

@artdealershow

facebook.com/artdealershow